New to the site. I have a 99 Cherokee stock inline 6 w/auto tranny 4x4. When I turn the key its as if the battery is dead. Battery and starter are good. Getting power to starter and alternator. Checked ground to battery. Checked for reverse lights thinking it could be the NSS. Engine turns so its not ceased. Did notice a few days prior the truck was starting slow as if the battery/alt was going bad. Checked relays/fuses under hood as well as in cab fuses. This is my daily driver and I have hit a wall. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

Engine "Cranks" (turns over) but won't start - correct?

It may be the Crankshaft Position Sensor is bad.

 

The truck wont crank as if the battery is dead when I turn the key I get nothing. I can turn the pullies by hand so I know the motor is not ceased. One thing I left out was radio, head lights, horn, power windows etc... all work.

 

A few things can do this. Checking reverse lights still doesnt rule out the NSS. Did you try starting in Neutral? Or wiggle the shifter a bit back and forth and try starting again?

 

Tried starting in neutral and park. Also tried wiggling the shifter.

 

I'm having the exact issue with my 99 xj 4.0. Battery, starter, relay/fuses all good but when I turn the key nothing happens. I also tried to start it after wiggling the shifter. Any insight would help.

 

Don't assume your battery is good until you have it LOAD TESTED. Any parts store will do this for you for free. This is a process of elimination, but you must use a testing based strategy to get to the root cause.

 

Sorry I should have mentioned that. Its a brand new battery and I had it load tested just to be sure. I also pulled the starter and had it tested at Auto zone as well. I put new terminals in just to rule out that possibility. The starter was very dirty and I cleaned the connections the best I could with CRC degreaser. Still nothing. The relay clicks but the starter doesn't even give any indication of trying to crank.

 

IUPjeeper, you are now taking over the thread from the OP, Freese. I understand you;re both new on the forum, but this becomes confusing because it seems both of you have done different checks untill now.

With a no-crank no -start , a faulty NSS is still on the cards, but not as only thing, so diagnostic procedures are key in finding the issue.
To rule out the relay, swap it out with a known good (the big square ones are interchangeable)
Next, test for voltage drop from battery to starter (assuming that you've verified to have power to the starter).
Remember that the startermotor grounds by means of where it bolts up. So, in order to have proper ground, the mating surfaces need to be clean.

Report back what you find

 

Got my issue resolved. I checked for the voltage under load and saw no drop. I decided to try a new starter just in case. Turns out that was the issue and Auto zone was wrong in their testing of the old one. Thanks for the advice.